Tuesday, August 8, 2005

I rang Jonathan on his cell a little while ago, just to say hi. It's been quite a while since we've spoken. I drop him little emails every now and then, usually with bits of news or astrological theory, or tossing in my two cents on the thought of the day.

He gets a lot of phone calls and I don't call his cell purely out of mercy, but this seemed like a good moment. I caught him driving home from holiday, and I guess my name popped up in his caller ID screen.

"Long time no speak!" is how he answered.

"Hi Jonathan! It's been a while, yes."

"How are you enjoying having the chair this week?" The chair, meaning filling in while he's out of town. I think Jonathan views his horoscope as a kind of cosmic podium from which to help guide the meeting known as life along.

"Are you kidding? It's like playing a rock concert."

We chatted a few more moments -- and he had to go; he didn't want to talk on the phone while having the other hand on the steering wheel. I thanked him, and we left it there. Here's Tuesday's daily horoscope, with a London street photo. I'm not usually in town when I'm writing in the Daily Mail. It's a fun time, and for those who are wondering, London is doing fine, and all the cops I talk to, checking up on things, seem to be in a good mood.

http://planetwavesweekly.com/iimnc476/cainer/PW050809.html

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Daily Horoscopes This Week

Dear Readers:

This week I'm covering for Jonathan Cainer in the Daily Mail, Melbourne Sun and  the Sydney Daily Telegraph. The horoscope is available on Jon's website at http://cainer.com/ , and we've produced a version of our own, at this link -- which will be updated daily in this space, as well as archived on Planet Waves. Sorry for the long URL! Here is a snipped one: http://snipurl.com/gs9q

http://planetwavesweekly.com/iimnc476/cainer/PW050808.html

Thanks!

-- Eric Francis
London



Planet Waves | August 7, 2005 - from Jude

I watched the History Channel into the wee smalls ... amazed, distressed, and thoughtful. The actual supressed footage of the Hiroshima aftermath was shown on Sundance, a channel I don't get here in the Pea Patch ... so the horrendous snips of children without skin, charred bodies and devastation that I saw last night wasn't the entire story, but ... good enough for an anti-war statement that Screams to Heaven.

Past midnight, there was an examination of the governance of Hirohito -- who was he, this man worshipped as a Diety and never tried for war crimes? Disconnected entirely from reality by the circumstance of his birth, protected on every level by his handlers and bombastic by either nature or position, this was a man who approved plans with a nod but never made any. The design for the war was in the hands of his cabinet and aggressive military. The murder of millions of Chinese in Japan's ruthless push for expansion was racist at heart. The public had been taught that the Chinese [said an elderly soldier of the Rising Sun] were "inferior things; less than pigs." The Japanese people, it's culture, were "superior."

When a proposition to bomb a U.S. Naval facility was proposed as "deterrent" to possible U.S. involvement in what would soon become a global war, the Emperor simply nodded; when his top military advisor resigned in protest, Hirohito selected [fanatical] Tojo to replace him because "he liked him." In the end, Hirohito was the man who stepped down from his throne and into the public eye only to encourage youngsters to fly off in Kamakazi attacks for Japan's "honor," to tell his people that suicide was more honorable than losing the war -- to remind them to "stay the course."

Japan's refusal to surrender after the first bomb was attributed to a failed attempt to secure Hirohito's continued Empirical rights -- evidently that first devastation wasn't a "deal breaker" for the government. A statement was issued to the Japanese people in the immediate aftermath of Hiroshima to "cowboy up." It was after all ... a war.

This morning I saw Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother of a fallen American soldier and anti-war advocate, interviewed on CNN. She has been camped outside Bush's compound in Crawford, asking to speak to him again. She'd had an earlier 2004 interview with him in which he gave her the company line -- her sons death was honorable, a necessary loss in the advancement of freedom. She said he was light-hearted in their conversation, indicating that her sacrifice would be vindicated when the war was won, when democracy was spread.

Bush sent some of his underlings out to speak to her yesterday -- they said the President feels her loss, but ... [read the above company line, redux.] It is, after all ... a war.

Honorable deaths, all -- or so say those who sacrifice nothing. History can show us how high-flying rhetoric sends us over the cliff, how words can baffle and bewilder. So let's not forget that words are, historically, cheap. If some wars are more "righteous than others," for instance ... why do we use the same exact words every time to sell them? And if one side is more "honorable" than another ... why do the leaders of each side successfully use the same exact argument to send their nations children into slaughter?

We might argue that WWII was a very clear cut situation, and that there were righteous reasons to become involved. I'd suggest that was certainly the reason that this nation's people fought it ... but perhaps not why the politicians supported it. War always shows us the dark underbelly of the human spirit, militarily as well as politically -- and examples of it's highest heroism, as well. It's murkier today, though. The "war on terror" we fight today isn't even a "real" war, is it? Is there a "place" where terrorism resides? Or is it a condition?

Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich. ~ Sir Peter Ustinov

Ustinov's words are powerful, they're the kind that can turn the conversation -- but they're not the one's we hear. Today, words aren't just cheap, they're calculated to push your buttons and attach themselves to your bias's and fears ... we call this "framed." Below, an entertaining read by comic and political commentator Will Durst on this topic. Interesting, isn't it, how humor can cut right through the crap?

Peace ~

Jude

The Escargot Stratagem [Bush administration explores new depths of governance by euphemism] --Will Durst --08.04.05

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=19438

Responding to the American public's mounting suspicion that the White House is either lying to us about the Iraqi War going according to plan, or the plan really really sucks... the Administration has decided the source of the problem is not their doomed policy but rather the slogan they are using to sell it. So "the war on terrorism," has officially been replaced with "the struggle against violent extremism." Which clears things up like a double hulled oil tanker spill in a 9-inch kiddie wading pool.

Like a floundering hurricane losing wind speed over a land mass, the war has been downgraded to a struggle. I don't know about you, but I feel much better already. Hey, is that the cool, refreshing breeze of a scheduled steady troop withdrawal? Alas, no, it's Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld propelling himself across another verbal skating rink by igniting his own flatulence. Again. Does the term "band-aid on a sucking chest wound" have any meaning here?

This particular scheme is something I like to call the Escargot Stratagem. Imagine being a charter member of the Snail Wranglers Anti Defamation League back in the 50s. Tough gig, right? When most Americans would rather chew on pork lips and linoleum than consider sliding the paradigm of slime down their gullet. It wasn't until the slugs with shells were marketed as a delicacy under their French moniker that people worked up the nerve to stab them with a fork, much less dangle them within spitting distance of their mouths. Of course, if you ask me, the guy from the Garlic Butter Advisory Board is the real genius here. Throw in "squid" and "calamari" and "Rick Santorum" and "distinguished gentleman" and you see where I'm going with this.

It's all about reframing, such as the word "bribe" being replaced with "campaign contribution," when we all know the major difference between the two is five syllables. The Nixon Years were the Golden Era of reframing, most notably for first-ballot Reframing Hall of Famer Ron Ziegler, who informed the press that his previous statements on behalf of the Nixon White House were "inoperative." Which, to this day, remains the best euphemism for "lied like a thieving corn weasel."

The problem here is the word "war." Unfortunate term. Unduly contentious. Steeped with insinuations of antagonism. Indicative of an enterprise to be either won or lost. As we are currently exhibiting some of the signs normally associated with losing, ie, a whole bunch of dead soldiers, it's obviously time for a change. "Struggle" conveys more of the murky lifelong commitment that fighting terrorism, excuse me, violent extremism, will require. It's like a voluntary congenital condition. Nobody expects to win the war against genital herpes, you simply strive to co-exist. And eventually become a better person because of it. Blah blah blah.

If this were 20 years ago, I would expect the "war on poverty" to morph into the "tussle against insufficient funds," but that war ended: the poor lost. Or, more accurately, extremely rich politicians surrendered on their behalf. One thing you can be sure of, this nomenclatural de-evolution will be shoved down our throats as long as we continue to swallow it, right up to the point that they try to call the President "Beloved Leader." I'm not sure there's enough garlic butter in the world to facilitate that. ++

Like a lot of Americans, Political comic Will Durst prefers both squid and snails to Rick Santorum.



Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is standing in for Eric for a couple of days. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net.

Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/




Planet Waves | August 6, 2005 - from Jude

Another lengthy post, my dears -- but appropriate to the day. This is the anniversary of human-kinds ability to destroy itself.

I was born a child of war -- my mother was a pretty teenaged USO singer who married a young swabbie in a whirlwind romance. Because he went AWOL for a few days to do the deed, he ended up in the brig, then shipped off to the South Pacific for the duration and more. I toddled out to meet my father when I was eighteen-months old.

One of the very first Boomers, I was also a child of the Bomb -- or perhaps I should more accurately say a child of the Manhattan Project. I arrived a few months after we dropped the nuclear hell of Fat Man on Hiroshima and, three days later, its companion, Little Boy, on Nagasaki. When Harry Truman made his announcement about the bombing, he told the American public, "The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war..."

My father didn't make his way home until after he'd participated in Operation Crossroads, the nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll, that little spot in the Marshall Islands where we were so naive to the possibilities that we didn't even provide the sailors with protective gear or tell them to cover their eyes as we vaporized three islands. It has only recently been deemed habitable -- and barely.

"As soon as the war ended, we located the one spot on earth that hadn't been touched by the war and blew it to hell." ~ Comedian Bob Hope commenting on Operation Crossroads

It didn't take long before humans knew how to terrorize more than enemies and islands. I was drilled on how to "duck and cover" when I was in second grade ... what to do should there be a "big flash of light." In my opinion, the turning point in the Iraq War build-up was when Condi Rice uttered the phrase "mushroom cloud." For millions of Boomers, no other word could clutch their hearts with so icy a hand ... or suggest so dire a childhood terror.

Mankind has been "making mischief" for a long while, dearhearts - dark, nihilistic mischief. We keep messing with Mother Nature as if She didn't have consequences in store for us. We recently blew up a comet to "see what happens" and take the mischief into space. While this was for "scientific purpose," I expect the government was watching closely [finally, a scientific project it can wrap its arms around!] It has an intense interest in exploding things. And ... it has plans.

Today, on the 60th anniversary of that first nuclear drop, United For Peace and Justice and other groups will be marching, gathering at nuclear facilities and other sites, somberly commemorating the horror. The Bomb was politicized early on, footage from the drops on Japan locked away so we couldn't see ... like the caskets we mustn't look upon these days, streaming into Delaware -- only much, much worse. General McArthur ordered the cover-up. The History Channel will be exposing that lost footage this weekend, tonight and tomorrow -- it will be difficult to watch, but for me it will be required.

Despite all of this, just days ago the United States Senate approved a budget that expands funding for nuclear power, while Bush continues to harangue us about "being safe from terrorism." The WMD's that we couldn't find in Iraq are hastily being developed in Iran and other places as a deterrent to American aggression, and her own long-standing WMD. The WMD loop seems destined to go on forever ... well, perhaps not forever; just until someone is stupid enough to think radiation isn't carried in the air and water and soil, to harm us all.

The new American darling of a Bunker Buster, for instance, has not proven safe "after the drop" -- it leaves unacceptable radiation levels that can be picked up by the wind and carried anywhere. We continue to test it, having just approved $2.5 million for it's further development. Here's a handy little flash presentation created by the Union of Concerned Scientists to illustrate:

http://www.care2.com/go/z/25280

I don't think I have to convince most of you that nuclear power is Serious as a heart attack -- I think the word "vaporizing" says it all. Always brilliant, here's a Mark Fiori cartoon about this new "old" topic, resurrected by Bush after he withdrew [with John Bolton's assistance] from the ABM Treaty. Not only is Bush bubbling over with enthusiasm for nukes, he's opened a can of worms by inviting India into the "boyz club" of nuclear privilege. There are many links below if you wish to read further on any of the points I bring up in this post.

Nuke Retro: Salesman from the 70s -- http://www.nukeretro.org/

Bush recently gave a pro-nuclear speech from a nuclear facility urging the building of many, many more. There have been no new facilities built in over 20 years, not since the Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979. Those still functioning are worn out and in need of remodel and repair -- they are problematic, expensive and astronomical to insure. The White House alleges that Iran is hiding it's larger motives under the smoke-screen of creating nuclear facilities for energy; the finger points both ways.

But then, Mr. Bush is cozy with concepts that I find heart-clutching and dangerous, and acting on them is unthinkable ... to me. Not to him. Consider:

"The White House let it be known on May 18 that President Bush will soon issue a national security directive on the subject of weapons in space. The announcement and accompanying statements by Air Force officials, together with earlier developments, reveals much about the connection between missile defense and the militarization of space, and the possible consequences for nuclear proliferation.

"The Rumsfeld report stated that an explicit policy is needed to direct capabilities for space "including weapons systems that operate in space." How we would operate in space was hinted at a year ago when Pete Teets, the former acting secretary of the Air Force, told a symposium on space warfare, according to The New York Times , that "we haven't reached the point of bombing and strafing from space. Nonetheless, we are thinking about the possibilities." "

Since that first use of nuclear power, on August 6, 1945, this nation has come, slowly and painfully, to an agreement that the Unthinkable must not be tolerated. Yet now, with this rash president, we are looking again at the perils of MAD [Mutually Assured Destruction.] In the last sixty years, each president has spoken of nuclear capability with caution. Consider:

President Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Let no one think that the expenditure of vast sums for weapons and systems of defense can guarantee absolute safety for the cities and citizens of any nation. The awful arithmetic of the atomic bomb does not permit any such easy solution."

President John F. Kennedy: "Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us .."

President Lyndon B. Johnson: "...uneasy is the peace that wears a nuclear crown. And we cannot be satisfied with a situation in which the world is capable of extinction in a moment of error, or madness, or anger. "

President Richard M. Nixon: "A direct clash between the superpowers would almost certainly escalate to nuclear weapons. Over 400 million people in the United States and the Soviet Union alone would be killed in an all-out exchange."

President Gerald R. Ford: "The world faces an unprecedented danger in the spread of nuclear weapons technology."

President James E. Carter: "In an all-out nuclear war, more destructive power than in all of World War II would be unleashed every second during the long afternoon it would take for all the missiles and bombs to fall. A World War II every second -- more people killed in the first few hoursthan all the wars of history put together. The survivors, if any, would live in despair amid the poisoned ruins of a civilization that had committed suicide."

President Ronald W. Reagan: "Nuclear War cannot be won and must never be fought."

President George H.W. Bush: "School children once hid under their desks in drills to prepare for nuclear war. I saw the chance to rid our children's dreams of the nuclear nightmare, and I did."

President Bill Clinton: "I am very disappointed that the United States Senate voted not to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. This agreement is critical to protecting the American people from the dangers of nuclear war. It is, therefore, well worth fighting for. And I assure you, the fight is far from over."

Yet now -- in a time of cold peace among old enemies, and hot war among new ones -- from a White House that values secrecy, empirism and corporate profit above good sense, all the while naming it "patriotism" ... we have another presidential opinion:

"Nuclear weapons play a critical role in the defense capabilities of the United States, its allies and friends. They provide credible military options to deter a wide range of threats, including WMD and large-scale conventional military force. These nuclear capabilities possess unique properties that give the United States options to hold at risk classes of targets [that are] important to achieve strategic and political objectives." ~ President George W. Bush:

Think of that! EVERY president but Bush has at least given cautionary lip-service to the dark side of nuclear capability. It's a question of trust, isn't it ... do you trust George Bush with WMD? Do we become a terrorist to defend against one? Is a "limited nuclear war" in ANY way acceptable? Is developing better and more effective WMD an acceptable use of our tax dollars? Is putting this kind of weapon into space in ANY way justifiable? Have we shown enough maturity as a nation to be ALLOWED to play with all these hyper-cool, deadly toys??

George won't last forever, and he's got a sizeable hitch in his giddy up right now, with his flagging numbers and failed policies ... that's encouraging. But what has he brought with him as legacy ... of the many laws and policies he's turned backwards, has he again unleashed the Worst Of It with his "credible military options?" To my mind, the worst of the last five years has been that so many things we'd worked diligently to lay to rest are back as if we'd never buried them -- and the only answer to this particular problem is for us, you and me, to go back to the rationality of [almost] every elected President since Little Boy and Fat Man fell from the belly of the Enola Gay -- This Is Not Acceptable.

Bush still has a couple more years ... and a newly-inspired fundamental Iran, a frantically paranoid North Korea to deal with, not to mention a touchy Israel with nukes and a stand-off between India and Pakistan. He still has his Pentagon programs and his space wars plans. He still thinks he has a "mandate" ... although by now, I think we all agree he gave it to himself. We need to do everything in our power to keep him in check because ... well, because George IS a WMD.

If all this information is overload, if you feel helpless and overwhelmed -- google "anti-nuclear" and find a group, a petition to sign, do something. Helplessness is overcome by action ... the outcome of this situation depends on what we do about it. Choice has always been in our own hands. Your own little squeak of a voice, added to the growing chorus of reawakened peace activistism, can become loud enough to shout down even the bullies of our beautiful, endangered world.

I will leave you with this -- from the "picture worth a thousand words" category, I recommend this amazing site for your review. I ran into it over a year ago, a picture documentary weblog of the wasteland of Chernobyl by a Ukrainian biker chick named Elena In the last year she's improved her English and added other topics, but the riveting and chilling pictures are still in place.

Click into the section that starts: "This is a story about a town where one can ride with no stop-lights, no police, no danger of hitting any of the living thing..."

Ghost Town http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/

Peace ~

Jude

Lessons from Hiroshima, 60 Years Later -- Walter Cronkite -- http://www.antiwar.com/orig/cronkite.php?articleid=6892

The Hiroshima Cover-Up -- http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0805-20.htm

US Suppressed Footage of Hiroshima for Decades -- http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080305R.shtml

The Myths Of Hiroshima http://www.tompaine.com/

Bombs Away! -- http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_6962.shtml

George W. Strangelove and the Triumph of Nuclear Faith -- http://www.antiwar.com/solomon/?articleid=6703

Lessons Learned? -- http://www.alternet.org/story/23915/

The Folly Of Space Weapons -- http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050615/the_folly_of_space_weapons.php

Glowing Endorsement of Nuclear Power Ignores True Costs, Missed Opportunities -- http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0622-23.htm

Nearly 300 Groups Reject Nuclear Energy as a Global Warming Solution -- http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0616-29.htm

On 60th Anniversary of US A-Bomb Attacks on Japan, Major Events Planned, Thousands Demand: 'No Nuclear Weapons!' -- http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0805-01.htm

Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is standing in for Eric for a couple of days. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net.

Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/




And strictly for utilitarian purposes -- http://www.sorrygottago.com/



Friday, Aug. 5, 2005

The Leo New Moon was overnight Aug. 4-5 in the US and Europe, an exciting chart with a variety of contradictions and puzzles, but in true Leo fashion, ultimately, clear and convincing.

For starters, here is the basic chart, which may not be posted yet. I've cast it for Washington, DC, because you have to cast it anywhere, and that's as bad a place as any. Actually, it's in honor of Congress being out of session; somebody has to call attention to Washington.

http://planetwaves.net/charts/leo-new-moon2005.html

This is a New Moon with three planets opposite Neptune. Neptune is multiplied by the number of planets that aspect it, and frankly three is a lot. When Neptune is involved, the time is right to stay sober and reality check. There is information lurking in the clouds that is likely to come out in the first wave over the next four days and in the second wave, over the next three weeks.

So lay off the absinth and keep your notebook handy. Much of what you need is already tucked away in there.

The smaller time increment (four days or so) is the timeframe over which the Sun will make its exact opposition to Neptune, coming closest Sunday and Monday. This is like "Full Neptune" energy -- Neptune operating at peak intensity, with the Earth suspended between two vastly larger bodies like a BB suspended between a beach ball and a basketball. This is creating something of a fantasy field around everything -- which will clear soon enough, though not everything that seems to be real in this somewhat foggy space is in fact unreal.

This is a rather intuitive moment, and one of the challenges is trusting your intuition to guide you. Neptune is as prone to accuracy and inspiration as it is to doubt as it is to doubt, guilt and error. So back up your hunches with facts, sniff the data and don't just analyze it, and remember that when you're proven wrong that's a key step on the way to the truth.

As you can see from the Mercury-Sun conjunction, we're approaching the peak or midpoint of the Mercury retrograde cycle. Mercury deals with both information and technology; be patient with both. The next major step in the process is when Mercury stations direct next week, which it does the morning of Aug. 16 (late night the 15th in the UK-Europe).

Built into this station is a series of two squares between Mercury and Mars which point to a definite quality of working out something which has arisen. Though patience may be the most challenging quality to muster under such energy, it's also the most precious. So keep your cool and proceed like a fact-checker, as indifferent as you can be to the truth while you're in the process of pursuing it.

Venus is about to change signs from Virgo to Libra, initiating the Venus-Jupiter conjunction in Libra. One could hardly hope for sweeter energy, and fortunately it comes Sept. 3, close to a new Moon in Virgo, when a number of other challenging aspects involving the retrograde of Mercury have worked out. That is something to look forward to, but the most important message of the stars is to not knock yourself out on unimportant matters, and to invest your energy in people and situations that are productive, healing, in balance and bringing results to someone.

Saturn in Leo is asking for a new kind of maturity -- the assertive kind, the kind that knows the difference between yes and no, between fear and paranoia, and between what is useful and what is not. Given all the potential fog and confusion, we'll have some real opportunities to test that leadership and learn from experience.



PS, for anyone who has suggested in the past that I am "too political," Jude comments:

"And ... ummm ... it's JOHN Bolton, Michael would be the pop singer with the long hair and high falsetto?!!  : )"

Ya, that would be John. Facts are such a pain in the butt.

No, no, I was just kidding to see who noticed.

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(A Bit of Political Waves)

Hi everyone,

I'm going to be on the road for a few days and I need to focus -- so I've been going easy on the blogs. I was also wondering about the whole Micheal Bolton situation -- this really strange, hostile guy who's suddenly become the UN representative of the United States of America. Even the U.S. Senate in all its gory wonder would not approve him. And now he's got the job. So, I did what any half-witted editor does, when they have a question -- ask the most experienced person on that particular subject to take it up, who happens to be Jude. Some of you know her from Political Waves; others from her excellent stand-in while I was in North America.

Here's what she responded with. It's long, but then, it's a complex situation. I'm aware that it's not easy to scroll down for 1,000 words -- but I hope the new white cover format makes it easier to read.

One reason I love Jude's writing is that she's able to take political situations and see through to the core essence that's really about a spiritual crisis. When we look at politics that way, we can actually do something. As Bono said so long ago, "I can't change the world, but I can change the world in me."

I'll have one additional post on the Leo New Moon tomorrow, before passing the torch to Jude for a few Days. Then next week we'll see what happens -- but I'll be keeping an eye on the astrology in any event.

Here's Jude for you, reporting live from the Pea Patch.
    
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August 03, 2005 - from Jude

If you scratch an ultra-conservative, they will bleed hostility ... there is a deep fear that they will lose what they have, that they will be attacked or victimized. In order to guard against that possibility, they are at once alarmists and hawks -- do unto others, quickly, before they do unto you. I remember reading John Birch Society hand-outs when I was a teen, and feeling sorry for those who lived their life with the deeply-held conviction that there is forever an "enemy at the gates."

The public does not cotton to wing nuts, however, so ultra-conservatives have learned how to employ the veneer of sanity, while framing their fearspeak into a litany of "family values." Among them, then, with their now-perfected emotional lingo and morphed "mainstream" credentials, there is a sliding scale of civility. On the very top, we find the smooth, the slick, the squeaky-clean ... men like John G. Roberts, Jr., a gent who has positioned himself throughout an entire lifetime for an opportunity to take power and implement his narrow agenda.
 
George W. Bush, while born into a highly cultured family, fell off that scale early on ... indeed, no one was more surprised that George became President than his own parents; I think that somewhere in their psyche's, they're still vibrating like a plucked harp and wringing their hands. George is what I think of as "canny," a natural politician from years of watching and glad-handing, learning the finer points of power-brokering at Poppies knee, and clever enough to adopt a "simple values" Texan persona so he doesn't have to compete with his more learned peers. I'd say on a scale from one to ten, George is probably about a four on the civility scale... that's the face he paints on when he speaks to his Neo-Con and Fundamentalist Christian power base and his One Party America. I'd give him a pretentious five, but all he talks about is kicking ass, anyhow ... not all that civil even in policy. Pictures of George flipping off the press as Governor of Texas tell us where he actually resides on the scale -- he's a charmer if you're with him, but count on being picked off with less than civil tactics if you aren't. His hostility looks like arrogance, looks like disdain, it's the kind that belittles and ignores. As our "unreality" president, George spends a good deal of time pretending the rest of us don't exist. If you keep slipping down that scale, you will find the bottom feeders.

Enter John Bolton. John has been a loyal ultra-conservative foot soldier since the Reagan years. He is by no means an idealistic Neo-Con, and does not enjoy "buddy" status in the White House -- he is a tried and true Nationalist. He has no regard for nation building, internationalism or international law, and does not believe in humanitarian intervention. His entire thrust in life appears to a growling instance on keeping America "Numero Uno," safe from outside influence or control. His mannerism, his personality, his character are all described, by his own party, as difficult, belligerent and aggressive. He is given to fits and tantrums; those who have worked with him call him a "bully" and a "hysteric." He appears to be tirelessly inflexible, and his "management style" [ability to work with others] is dismal. Insiders have suggested they'd "slit their wrists" if they had to work with him. His record includes abuse of underlings, insults to peers and a complete lack of communication skills. Scratch John Bolton and he will bleed hostility.

John has very few selling points, and he is Cheney's man, rather than Bush's -- on the face of it, there's no real justification for his recess appointment except that he's a junk yard dog, and that's exactly what Bush wants in the U.N. Bolton is the lowest-common-denominator conservative ... he only knows one song and he's unwilling to hear any other. He has the reputation of a hit man -- you might call him when you need him, but you don't want to sit at the table with him, or look him in the eye as you pass in the hall. It's rumored that Condi Rice couldn't be happier that he's distanced from her State Department now, and negotiations with the North Koreans [with whom Bolton had a name-calling episode] are going more smoothly. John's the equivalent of the Godfather's Luca Brasi; his loyalties are absolute, and he will be unwavering in his mission to cut the legs out from under the United Nations.

Am I being too harsh? John Bolton is the man who said, in 1994, "there is no such thing as the United Nations," just "an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that is the United States." He called support of the International Criminal Court the product of "fuzzy-minded romanticism [that] is not just naive, but dangerous" He does not think that international treaties are "legally binding." And let's all remember that former Sen. Jesse Helms thinks of him as "the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at the gates of Armageddon." At least he's literate -- he called U.N. officials "nabobs."

As nominee to this post, John did not win the endorsement of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who sent him on to Congress without recommendation -- the Senate requested to review documents that suggested that John bullied his CIA investigators and ignored their intelligence reports in order to spin for WMD in Iraq, during the build-up to war. Bush refused to release the memos and twice Bolton's nomination was blocked. It was one of the few bright moments in legislation in the last five years -- I took glee in Senator Joe Biden's remark that, "I have always voted against nominees who oppose the avowed purpose of the position for which they have been nominated."

Bolton does not serve with the approval and confidence of the American people or it's legislative branch -- he serves at the pleasure of George W. Bush. And everybody knows it.  How long will it take to connect the dots from George to John as Dubya's dark alter ego?
 
Boltons recess appointment during legislative hiatus was long rumored, but the reality of it is still a shock. John Bolton will be the "face of America" at the table of nations -- a man who has no regard for the purpose of international diplomacy. A man who bleeds hostility, and who only knows one song. How will such a man respond to sensitive nations that require respect, with people who's culture requires a delicate touch? How will he manage the duties of "diplomat" when his own employee's call him a monster?

More poignantly, how can such a man follow in the remarkable footsteps of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jean Kirkpatrick, Madeine Albright and Richard Holbrooke? How will John Bolton address the concerns of Adlai Stevenson, who as U.N. Ambassador said, "The whole basis of the United Nations is the right of all nations--great or small--to have weight, to have a vote, to be attended to, to be a part of the twentieth century." Answer: he can't.

It's not my purpose to demonize Bolton -- he is what he is. I find his beliefs archaic and dangerous, as I do almost all those of the uber-conservative administration now in power. But I have no doubt he believes them unquestioningly. The more important question is why did George Bush insist on this. The Republican rationalization is that the United Nations is desperately in need of reform, and a hard-hitting, kick-ass Ambassador is just the ticket. That those reforms have already been addressed in the last months is one of the facts the Pubs leave out of the argument. It's actually simpler than that. Anyone who watched the build-up to war knows what George Bush thinks of the U.N. -- he has no respect for it as an institution and no interest in it's stabilization.

The Bolton appointment is yet another example of Bush's amazing disregard for public and political opinion other than his own. This wasn't just an appointment -- it was a slap in the face of anyone who has opposed him, and most specifically, the United States Congress that dared to insist that it has power of its own. A reasonable man would never have proposed John Bolton, given his record. A reasonable man would have acquiesced to the enormous howl that erupted during the mans vetting process. A thoughtful man would have noticed that Bolton has ethical problems in his ties to both manipulation of intelligence in rush to war [Downing Street] and the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame [Plamegate.]

But George is apprently in no mood to pussyfoot around, these days.  He has a more pressing agenda -- increasing presidential power. No president has extended it as has George, no president has surrounded himself with legal eagles and P.R. campaigns and covert workings to snatch it up as relentlessly as has George. The problem is ... he's gotten away with it. With 9/11 and "war on terror" and "homeland security," he's managed to chip away at constitutional protections, while telling us all that nothing needs defending so much as ... the Constitution [listen to his Supreme Court rhetoric.] The three-branched Executive, Legislative, Judicial base of Democracy is beginning to wobble in George's hands. His Supreme Court nominee is perfectly suited to sustain and increase that lopsided condition.

Every president before George Bush has sent to the United Nations the best this country had to offer -- people skilled and lucid and high-minded and shiny as new pennies. George has sent someone exactly like himself. I expect this is a watershed moment, an egoism that will cost him dearly.

What George sold us in 2000 as "confident," has begun to take shape as maniacal. The "loyalty" that looked so attractive early on, has now become "unyielding stubbornness." What had appeared to be "determination" in the first days of his presidency now looks like a headlong run off the highest cliff ... and he intends to take all of us with him.

I've posted a number of links below -- all of them good reads if you want to know how all this happened and more about the decidedly "uncivil" John Bolton ... all important to know, since he will be representing YOU to the world. The first one, the Rothschild piece, has resonance with me. It's a "bring it on!" challenge to George to do his worst -- I understand that premise. Like avoiding elective surgery, we only prolong the pain if we don't jump in with both feet. The scandals of previous months are finally "sticking" to this president and they're not going away any time soon. Plamegate and Downing Street and a failing Iraq has dropped Bush's numbers into the gutter. As we looked hopefully at the astrology around Christmas, we saw "overreach" ... it's happening now. It's transparent. It's ruthless. Bolton illustrates it beautifully.

At Political Waves, we look for overreach in every new article ... but even our moderate neighbors have noticed. They've noticed gas prices, higher grocery and utility bills. They're sending their kids back to school in politically charged environments, careful of what they wear, what they say. They've noticed the bombings in London that were supposed to "stay" in Iraq. The worse this gets, the more our neighbors wonder where that Texas "charm" is taking them. If you thought you saw defiance in George's nomination of Bolton, you did.  It's Texas bluff in a difficult phase of his presidency.  Bush's machine has given us only Republicans in power -- and Republicans will reap the political harvest of what they've sown. No one else is accountable ... they can't deflect responsibility forever.

Dubya embarrassed us with, punished our allies with, a belligerent and unyielding John Bolton -- and more than any other enforced appointment, Bolton is going to be Dubya's Man, the blunt and coarse Bush doppelganger that has been selected to represent the face of America to collective global civilization. This is less a question of Who Is John Bolton, than Who Is George W. Bush. With this appointment, George gave the world the finger, much as he did that day in Texas when a reporters camera caught it for posterity. History will not forget either event. And under the smoke and mirrors, there is still the heartbeat of American culture, to which the civility scale matters. This nation, the entire world, is increasingly hungry for relief from chaos and strife ... and dare we dream, peace. Instead of feeding that hope, Bush gave us a tantrum in the making ... both in John Bolton as "diplomat" and his insistence that Bolton serve over the objection of anyone with good sense.

Can ANYONE view this as less than a disaster and the beginning of another Bush failure? How many failures can one President balance and still be credible? Credibility is Bush's Achilles Heel at the moment, according to the polls. So, I say -- be cheerful with this in-credible appointment. The only thing that has kept Bush in power is the collective notion that he seems credible -- remember, he's the "Trust me!" President. The more failures we absorb, the more tantrums we see, the more he will appear the petulant child he is. The 2006 elections are coming up -- if there should, God/dess willing, be some color other than red dominating either legislative body, accountability will begin. [See the last link for hopeful news on that front.]

Under such circumstance, the Reign of Tantrum would collapse. And I have a notion that, in their heart of hearts, even Old George and Barbara would breathe a sigh of relief.

Namaste ~

-- Jude


John Bolton: Ugly Face on Ugly Policy
http://progressive.org/?q=mag_wx080105

Who Is John Bolton?
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=83210

The Bolton Embarrassment
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0802-31.htm

Bush, Bolton to Congress: Screw You!
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0802-33.htm

Destroying America
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7141.shtml

Bolton The Albatross
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050803/bolton_the_albatross.php

Call the President an "SOB," Win Votes
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0803-24.htm

   --------------------------------
 
Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is standing in for Eric for a couple of days. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net.

Political Waves list:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/



Worth Reading

http://villagevoice.com/screens/0531,tv1,66484,28.html

Thanks to Steve Bergstein, who surfaced from the decrepit bowels of the Federal judiciary to send me the link.

    e



Tuesday, August 2, 2005

Though I can't blog today for reasons of editorial overload, I wanted to post this article, which is rather apropos of Chiron visiting the last degree of Capricorn again.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080205B.shtml

Also, we've really got to ponder how Michael Bolton got to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations after the Senate would not even take up the nomination. Bush simply waited till the Senate went out of session and made a kind of "temporary" appointment. We'll see how temporary it is, but it's one of those outrages that's quite over the top.

Mercury is retrograde. It will still be up for discussion. There was a close opposition to Neptune forming as this happened. Go figure.



Monday, August 1, 2005

Some last thoughts on Garcia's birthday. Recently a copy of So Many Roads arrived in my post box, which I ordered about six weeks ago when I was in Montreal. It's a cloth-bound five-disc compilation of rarities and peak moments selected from out of an entire tape vault by three guys with a true devotion to the Grateful Dead's music -- with help from the late Dick Latvala, the Dead's principal tape archivist and namesake of the Dick's Picks series.

The end of the last disc is the part I keep playing over and over, and can't get out of my mind. The feeling of the songs has been following me around everywhere like an atmosphere the past few days. There are three gems. Two are Grateful Dead songs I had never heard until last week, ones from the end of their career, after I had stopped going to shows, and which I never discovered on recordings.

The first is a song called "Days Between," which I quote in my article -- I'll place a link to the full, annotated lyrics in a moment. It's from a studio rehearsal in 1993. This is the last song composed together by one of the truly great songwriting teams of our times, Garcia and Robert Hunter. It's a long, sad, sweet retrospective of what they've all been through, in life and as the Grateful Dead. I don't even know what to say about it, except how moved and how sad I feel every time I hear it. It reminds me of a dark windy day on the West side of Manhattan.

Also from 1993 is a studio session in which Garcia starts plucking out an old Irish ballad called "Whiskey in the Jar" that he used to sing before the Dead days, and the band picks it up in a minute. You get a feeling for the laid back, warm atmosphere in the studio and the respect that his bandmates have for him (with 'the kid' Bob Weir of course poking fun at grandpa for remembering it "words and all," just like that, after 30 years). Bassist Phil Lesh says, "It's a folk song," and Jerry replies with a smile, "Yeah, but it's a cool one."

There he is, close enough to touch, sweetly singing (moderate tempo, count four, in C major),

Some take delight in fishing and bowling
Others take delight in the carriage a-rollin'
I take delight in the juice of the barley
Courting pretty women in the morning so early

Musha ringum duram da
Whack fol de daddy-o
Whack fol de daddy-o
There's whiskey in the jar.

Last on the compilation is the song "So Many Roads," recorded at the final Grateful Dead concert at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 9, 1995. This song has come a long way from the Dead's anthemic lines, "Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been."

Garcia's performance of this is astounding, passionate, a cry to heaven, and his last performance. I can barely believe it when I hear it.

Wind inside & the wind outside
Tangled in the window blind
Tell me why you treat me so unkind
Down where the sun don't shine
Lonely and I call your name
No place left to go, ain't that a shame?

So many roads I tell you
New York to San Francisco
All I want is one
to take me home
From the high road to the low
So many roads I know
So many roads - So many roads

From the land of the midnight sun
where ice blue roses grow
'long those roads of gold and silver snow
Howlin' wide or moanin' low
So many roads I know
So many roads to ease my soul

Friends and brothers and sisters, life is short and fragile, so please take care of yourself, and take care of each other. And if you've got a problem that's dragging your life down, just get the help you need. It's okay. People want to help.

Jerry, I miss you and I love you and I wish you were here. Man, you left this planet a lot better place than you found it.

-----------------

Days Between
http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/days.html

Whiskey in the Jar
http://snipurl.com/gnba

So Many Roads
http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/soma.html

And here's a really cool one -- a guide to Jerry's guitars (this, I will send to dad in a second; he has quite a nice collection himself).
http://www.nii.net/~obie1/deadcd/garcia_guitars.htm



Note to Readers: The August Inner Space and Planet Waves are published. Just click the "July Horoscopes" link above -- we'll change the name of the month soon, but it will take you to the same place.

    e



Sunday, July 31, 2005

Hey there. A brief note on the cover photo, by Robbi Cohn. I was looking for the perfect Garcia photo to go with my article, and spent about an hour in Google image searches. Rob's site came up, and there the photo was. It's sometimes difficult to get permission to use a piece of artwork the same day, but I've had fairly good luck in the past -- so I looked Rob up in the Whois directory, found a cell number and gave him a call. He picked up right away.

He turned out to be a very interesting and equally friendly guy down in North Carolina, who gladly gave permission in exchange for a link back.

He sells prints of his images, and I am pretty sure Birdsong is for sale, framed or not; I plan to get a framed one soon, as it's one of the nicest late-era pictures of Garcia I've ever seen. (Rob's use of only wood molding and acid-free Bainbridge matting is a nice bit of artistic integrity.) He has quite a few other images, but if you do like his work, I am sure he'd appreciate a little fandom. You can reach him via email through his website, which is http://deadimages.com/

Please tell him hello from a Planet Waves reader.

Thanks!

    e



Space News

This is bouncing around the astrology and astronomy communities like mad at the moment. I will have more to say in my late-week reporting next week after I sort it out a bit and read comments from readers. But here you have it.

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/050729_new_planet.html

And in even more important news, my Jerry Garcia article will be posted in a little while. For those who got it by email, I've only taken out about 236 mistakes that I edited into the copy after it came back from proofreading. Typos are my specialty; I am Eric Typolino. The new edition is a little better and the links are all active.

Thanks again to Rob Cohn for the fine cover photo that will go with this article, Birdsong.

Till tomorrow,

    e
    



Readers may be interested in this article from http://truthout.org/

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072905A.shtml

    e



Saturday, July 30, 2005

Mars is square Saturn. This is an annual aspect, though it alternates, waxing phase or waning; today's aspect marks the last quarter in the Mars-Saturn cycle. The square is a turning point that can be anything from decisive to violent, but for sure, it's tangible.

Because of the upcoming Mars retrograde, the square aspect will repeat three times during the current phase. The exact pass of #1 is July 31; the exact pass of #2 is Nov. 18 during the retrograde; the exact pass of #3 is Dec. 28, with Mars in direct motion. The basic landscape of 2005 (speaking in Northern Hemisphere seasons, apologies offered to the South) has been a somewhat turbulent beginning (surrounding the inauguration of Bush, moving into the early April eclipse -- remember the time around the death of the Pope), then a fairly placid spell through late spring and very early summer; then an increasingly intense summer and autumn.

By intense, I mean changes, activities, the the quality of the aspects. More aspects means more activity, usually; more choices to make; more potentially complex situations to deal with early and get out of the way.

At the moment, things are relatively calm, after the Aries Point spell that surrounded the London bombings and the two Capricorn Full Moons we just experienced. The growing intensity is in part due to the combination of Mars retrograde, which begins its shadow phase around Aug. 12 (the period when Mars enters the degrees within which it will be retrograde). There is also a Venus retrograde that begins late in the year, shortly after Mars has stationed direct. In between, we have a spell of eclipses in October.

Retrogrades of inner planets make life interesting, and they call for skillful sailing. Surely, retrograde motion needs to be factored into decisions of timing when possible (it's not always possible), and where things look like there might be complications inherent in the landscape ahead, to reduce complications in that Quaker style of simple living to the greatest extent possible.

Mostly, retrogrades of Venus, Mars and Mercury affect us emotionally and mentally. This is to say, there can and often are circumstances involved, but how we respond is a lot of what defines the experience. And there is much to be said for following one's intuition. There is a lot of confusion in our culture between emoting, thinking and feeling, which are three entirely different aspects of consciousness (but they are all consciousness, connected to the body, so they have that in common).

Feeling stands in the middle of the three, and while it cannot always be attributed to a reasoning process, it doesn't necessarily contradict either. You know you're emoting when you're making NO sense whatsoever, and won't listen, no matter what anyone says. Emotions can and often do drive mental process and it's really good to know when that is happening, and take some space for yourself and actually go to a deeper level and work out the stuff underneath.

It's important to know when to do less, and I'm particularly speaking to Americans and Brits, whose lives can be quite frenetic as part of the normal course of getting through the day within those cultures. We need to know not only when to relax, but merely when to relent; to get on a new wavelength; to find a different emotional sphere and hang out there for a while.

As for today's Mars-Saturn square, it's really the first event in the Mars retrograde cycle, since the retrograde is responsible for two additional reiterations of the aspect. Therefore, let's pay attention to the events of these days for clues to what we can mend, amend or be aware of to keep that process a lot simpler, more productive and ultimately more creative. It is possible.

The planets move no matter what. The Creative Consciousness of the universe has given us astrology so that we can be a little more aware of the landscape of time in which we live and move, at least while we have bodies.

Catch you tomorrow, and see you soon with my tribute to Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. For those looking for August monthly horoscopes, our guy down in Florida, Dingle, will have those posted for you soon. And thanks to our readers for all the great cat photos, which we'll switch mid-month to get as many onto the site as we can.

Hang loose, cousins.

Yours & truly,

    e



Paris, Friday, July 29, 2005

THERE IS AN OLD JOKE that sounds like it was written by Mark Twain. "If Pro is the opposite of Con, what's the opposite of Progress?"

But of course -- Congress.

The real question, though, is what's the opposite of Congress?

The answer is Brad Blanton, author of Radical Honesty, Practicing Radical Honesty, and co-author of a book with Neale Donald Walsh, the Conversations with God guy.

Despite occasionally bashing heads with Brad over astrology for the past five years (he is a hyper Virgo, and his astrological chart will be part of my official coverage of his Congressional campaign, purely for sport and a good angle for Planet Waves), he and I are pretty much on the same page. About 15 minutes ago, I got an email inviting my support for his Congressional campaign.

And I thought: WHAT FUN!

Brad, a Gestalt therapist and workshop leader whose soft, Virginia accent would make your mother melt, would be an experience that Capitol Hill would never forget, much as it really, really wanted to. True, Brad has solid, freedom-loving, support-the-Constitution politics. True, he does not think our young people should be over in Iraq killing their young (and old) people. True, he supports the protection of the environment. (He's running as an Independent-Green Party candidate.)

None of those are reasons that rival how much fun it would be to have an obsessive, no-holds-barred truth-teller in the hallowed, stinking, blood-soaked, money-scented halls of the United States House of Representatives. Can you imagine someone with the perfect demeanor of one of those down-home southern gentlemen, in a pressed shirt and lovely tie, telling the vicious, corporate-sponsored murderers, ever so politely, that they're full of shit?

If you offered me the choice between going to an orgy every weekend for the next year, or having Brad in Congress, I would choose the 52 orgies. But I would have to think about it for a second.

So, when I got Brad's email a moment ago, I called him up right away, said I would kick in $50 to the kitty (for now), post the homepage of his campaign, spread the word to the political bloggers I know, and made sure to get his birth data again, which I lost the last time I had it a few years ago. I am officially adopting Brad Blanton as the Planet Waves candidate for Progress, if for no other reason than it will piss off Republicans and Democrats alike, give the media somebody interesting to interview, and generally be a great time for everyone who is not totally freaked out by the prospect.

Here's the web page: http://www.blantonforcongress.com/

Now, to click on that Paypal link...purely for fun, of course...



From Carol, Mayan astrologer and sometimes Planet Waves writer.

GALACTIC CURRENTS
Dream-Pulse of BEN - The Cosmic Explorer
July 24 - August 5, 2005
 
Dear Friends:
 
Happy Summer! I would like to let you know there are some new updates at the site. I am especially happy with these new glyph designs. Here is my "Walking Between Worlds" for the daysign of Ben:
 
http://www.galacticalchemy.com/
I hope you will check things out. I've stopped writing for awhile, as you may have noted, but not for long. I plan to continue very soon, hopefully before the fall equinox.  It has been very busy here with traveling and new Art projects. I am really excited about what's been coming through and I would like to offer you a look... All images are available for gifts and also personal soul portraits. If you are interested in this please email for details.
 
Much love and blessings,
 
Carol

"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream."
~ Vincent Van Gogh



Thursday, July 28, 2005

Moving along with another non-blog, I'm here to let you know what's on tap for this week's writing. In Planet Waves Weekly is my tribute to Jerry Garcia, who would be 63 years old next week, and who died 10 years ago this summer. It's also the band's 40th anniversary. There's some magnificent cover art by Rob Cohn of Dead Images, who I spoke to this morning in North Carolina.

In the Q & A page on Cainer.com, to be published in an hour or two, the news chart for the week is the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery, looking at the fortunes of that flight, now ongoing. And there are reader questions about the usual variety of subjects, including orbs and aspects, the question of writer's block, the 6th house and the Pluto square Pluto aspect.

I still have quite a few horoscopes to write. There are new assignments, a plum special assignment and the usual revolving endless schedule...but today, I got to write about the Grateful Dead.

See you tomorrow.

    e



Wednesday, July 27, 2005

This just in.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/07/26/womenpriests0726.htmlEnjoy

I'm continuing to focus on my schedule writing, so blogging will be a bit sparse the next few days, but I will post interesting news items and emails that come in.

Thanks to Jessica in Vancouver for this link.

    e



A little more for today. Just got this email from one of my more energetic correspondences in England. It's enough to send me back down to the catacombs for another nude photo shoot. And yes, I think that many locales are getting a bit egocentric about how important they are to terrorists. But then, I laughed when I heard that the Space Needle was evacuated on Sept. 11.

Here goes, the latest thing in my inbox. Quote.

I have just been to my local corner shop, to stock up on organic soya (they do the best deal in Sheffield).
 
I took my rucksack as I usually buy 4 or 5.
 
When I got to pay, the young man serving eyed my rucksack as I placed it on the counter ready to fill. It is lilac, well travelled and a much loved companion.
 
I told him that I was an advocate for "Rucksack Rights" as I feel they have been getting a really bad press lately. Yesterday, walking through the train station, I noticed that not a single black person had a rucksack on their back.
 
The young man replied that they now have a policy in the shop that if a black man or woman comes into the shop with a rucksack on their back they are asked to leave and will not be served.
  
It is not often that I am left speechless. I am all for awareness and caution, but this pure fear! Sheffield rarely makes it on the local or national weather map so I really do not see why it would be bombed and why would they pick a corner shop that rarely has more than 3 people in it.
  
Twinkles,
P--




Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Hi all, as I mentioned yesterday, I've got a rather top-heavy week. Typically I do more blogging early in the week and then as the writing schedule winds up to full tilt through Friday morning, somewhat less. However, I'm going to keep my head on the horoscopes. I do want to mention that we've added (or are about to add) the monthly astrocalendar for August to the homepage, brought to you by Michelle (research and layout). This is a printable calendar of major aspects and sign changes through the month. It's designed to print and give to your friends, a kind of utilitarian advertisement for Planet Waves. Please pass it on!

Thanks everyone for your comments on the Catacombs photo. We received the full diversity of responses -- as you may imagine. If we do use one for the cover, it's likely to be one that the model herself has worked through in Photoshop, which is one of her more devoted hobbies.

Monthly horoscopes will be appearing in a couple of days as well.

e




Here is a little something to end the day...

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4129

Catch you Tuesday.

e



Monday, July 25, 2005...

What can you really say about the state of the world right now? I feel fortunate that my landlord forgot to pay the cable television bill sometime while I was in North America, and when I got home earlier in the month, there was no ridiculous CNN, no BBC World with Darshini David reading the economics report, no horrid CNBC. My electric keyboard now lives in front of the television set, and the last thing I glimpsed (in a café) was London being awarded the 2012 Olympics, which bothered me because I knew it meant trouble. But I did not expect to see it surface the next day.

So I'm living my life these days unplugged from the high-pressure infusion of news that I came to Paris last fall committed to indulging, and as a result, I'm putting out less world-news type stuff here (you can still read it at our free Political Waves Yahoo group). After years of no television, including through the whole 9-11 era, I decided it was time to see what (on account of the presidential erection) was going on at the news channels and pretty much watched them all the time through the autumn, winter and spring. It feels good to be out of that particular loop.

We live in the age of the suicide bombing. Was there ever one before? It's rare to see something happen for the first time in the world, but we may be witnessing one in this particular instance. No gesture could be more confusing about the true value of life. We also live in a time when, as usual, fear is being marshaled to gain increasing control over our hearts and minds; but now it's fear of people who don't care about life. They are the scariest ones, right, because the thing we supposedly all value so much they don't value at all.

And the fact that so much fear is pouring in from outside our individual consciousness does not help us get our own lives together, heal our ills, make small, bold decisions and define happiness our way. As far as I can see, the two could not be further from one another.

When one's perspective is dominated by fear, concern, negativity and guilt (I do think we feel guilty for not doing more), it's difficult to make intuitive choices, to devote one's life to feeling better, or to keep any perspective at all. Yes, it does happen, but the overall atmosphere around us gets cloudier ad the fear stirs up the dust. For some, love totally loses its meaning in the midst of this, and anger and resentment take over.

I am not blaming individual unhappiness on politics. But I would say that we're living in manufactured chaos, and that's a big obstacle to happiness. So, too, is the sense of uncertainty. What exactly is going to happen? Is it worth moving forward every day? How is it possible to find love in a death-obsessed world?

Yesterday, some friends and I made a little project of doing a nude photo session down in the Catacombs of Paris. The Catacombs are really an ossuary; a place where bones are stored. Set within the 300 kilometers of caves, tunnels and mines are 6 to 7 million sets of human remains. Part of that is open to the public and, early yesterday, I went down with a model and three assistants to work with the space. We were first in line, and once we got in, we basically ran down the 130 steps to the bottom, bolted across the kilometer of tunnel leading to the ossuary, set up the equipment and worked like we were cracking a bank vault.

In the backs of our minds was the setting of the world: the long and increasing series of suicide bombings in Iraq, Egypt, and London; security crackdowns everywhere.

The Catacombs is a direct confrontation with death. It is a vast underground storage warehouse for human skeletons. It is our common destination, metaphorically or literally. Ange, my model, threw herself open for the experience, and more than made up for the many technical disasters that come from photographing in a dark environment with little bits of harsh incandescent light where we had to move very quickly to stay ahead of the tourists and out of the awareness of the guards (who probably would have appreciated running into us, come to think of it).

An ex boyfriend Nick was with her, in from London (it was his first day in Paris), as was a friend of mine from Paris named Christophe, and another from Holland named Adin, who worked a second camera and documented the project from bit of distance. We made an amazing team. Here's one result of our work. I'm not sure this is appropriate for a Planet Waves cover, but I wanted to share it with you in the form of a cover test.

Let's leave this as our commentary on the state of the world right now. I'll provide it on the black background and the white one we're experimenting with. If you'd like to comment,you may drop me a note at francis@planetwaves.net. I'll pass along notes to Ange as well.

http://www.planetwaves.net/home_test_black.html
http://www.planetwaves.net/home_test_white.html

Easy does it this week. You need to get used to the new direction Mercury is moving.

As a brief PS, I have a pretty intense week of writing this week, so you might not be hearing much from me, and those to whom I owe emails, thanks for your patience -- it's not personal. Typically I do most of my astrology writing on Wednesday and Thursday, but this week I'm going to marathon straight through.

Yours and truly,

e

PPS, cheers to the young couple fucking in my building on the third floor at all hours, echoing their (prolonged) screams and grunts throughout the little air passageway with the intense acoustics that all the apartments share, windows open, in the summer. They are certainly waking up the neighborhood, and they seem to love it.



Speaking of Saturn | Paris, Weds. July 20, 2005

In the blog below (on the http://PlanetWaves.net/ homepage edition), you've got links to some articles on Saturn in Leo. But speaking of Saturn, we are full-on into the Capricorn Full Moon round two. The first was back in June, which I covered in this article:

http://planetwaves.net/astrology/capricornfullmoon.html

If you're curious about the charts, cast for the District of Columbia, check here:

http://planetwaves.net/charts/capfullmoon05.html

The Moon is now in Capricorn. As of this writing on Wednesday morning in Paris, it's at close to 12 degrees even, square Jupiter and the lunar nodes in Libra. The exact opposition happens July 21 1t 1 pm Paris time, so therefore noon in London and overnight in the States; and late July 21 down under, close to midnight.

So we're close, and we're in that high-tension moment before the exact opposition, which bas the Sun and Saturn on one side of the earth, and the Moon, Chiron and nearby, Neptune, on the other side. Mars is square the whole arrangement from Aries; but the grand cross is kind of loose, which in reality makes it no less a grand square.

Full Moons have the sense of tension breaking, but they can be quite tense up to that moment. They're also high-energy moments, when it might be less easy to sleep at night. They are the time to avoid pointless fights and to let reason prevail over emotions, as best you can.

We're also in a Mercury station. Mercury stations retrograde in Leo July 23 and runs back through that sign for the next three weeks. We are now I what some astrologers call "Mercury storm," which says communicate clearly, steer your technology straight down the highway, and try to keep your mind on what is important.

In the news, it's worth noting that it's into this rather interesting alchemical mix that President Bush nominates John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Being predictive for a moment, either this will be a disastrous battle, or he will slip through in the midst of the chaos. But I doubt that this is a nomination that will go unnoticed or be easily forgotten. It's been quite a while since we've seen the game known as "advice and consent" of the Senate on a Supreme Court nominee.

Let's see what shakes down.

I'll have more to say about Mercury retrograde in Leo over the next couple of days, so please tune in.

-- Eric Francis
 



Welcome to Saturn in Leo

Paris, July 18, 2005

Dear Friends and Readers Around the World:

Welcome to Planet Waves!

As you may know, Saturn has entered Leo as of Saturday. I've been writing about this extensively (as well as incorporating the material into my weekly and horoscope columns). Most of that writing is on Jonathan Cainer's web page.

There have been three main articles, with additional links and resources?

Introduction
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/jun17.html

Saturn in Leo Part One (follows story about London)
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/july8.html

Saturn in Leo Part Two (link will be in the 'old issues' archive as of Thursday)
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html

This will be more than enough to get you started on this subject -- covering nearly every angle. And there will be more discussions in the Planet Waves Weekly essay as the subject develops.

New readers are invited to explore our cavernous in-house archives, which begin at this link:

http://planetwaves.net/WhatsNew/

And our premium service -- with the weekly horoscope and birthday report -- can be found here. It's a modestly priced service that supports our entire web page and brings you the very best in astrological news each Monday and Friday.

Please have a look!

Planet Waves Weekly
http://planetwavesweekly.com/

Readers may call our office at (877) 453-8265 with any questions about what we do, or about subscribing...and if you would like to email me directly, you can do so at francis@planetwaves.net.

Yours and truly,

-- Eric Francis
Paris, France

PS, don't forget to visit our photo gallery, which is linked from the Planet Waves homepage above. There are some interesting articles linked from there as well.

e


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